The Mt. Hope Huskies will venture away from home to face off against the Smithfield Sentinels at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Mt. Hope is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Rhode Island's top teams: Pilgrim, who was ranked sixth at the time (Mt. Hope was ranked 19th). The Huskies walked away with a 9-5 victory over the Patriots on Wednesday. The win was a breath of fresh air for the Huskies as it put an end to their five-game losing streak.
Mt. Hope saw eight different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Rhys Davies, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-3. Jacob Ferreira also deserves some recognition as he scored his first run of the season.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Smithfield, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Monday. They were the clear victors by a 9-2 margin over Lincoln on Wednesday. The Sentinels haven't had any issues with the Lions recently, as the game was their third consecutive victory against them.
Tucker Byrnes spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned (and one unearned) run on six hits and racked up seven Ks. He has become a key player for Smithfield: the team is undefeated when he allows at most two earned runs, but 0-4 otherwise.
On the hitting side, Sean Dwyer was incredible, scoring three runs and stealing three bases while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 1.2 stolen bases per game. The team also got some help courtesy of Chase Prata, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with two runs, one triple, and one RBI.
Smithfield always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .545. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their OBP total in three consecutive contests.
Mt. Hope's win was their first in the league, bumping their league record up to 1-4 and their overall record up to 2-5. As for Smithfield, their record now sits at 3-4.
Mt. Hope couldn't quite get it done against Smithfield in their previous meeting back in April of 2024 as they fell 9-4. Can the Huskies avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
